Which did more damage to peaceful coexistence between the two superpowers, the U2 incident in 1960, or the Berlin Wall in 1960
In my opinion the U2 incident was more damaging to the peaceful coexistence between the two superpowers because, unlike most conflicts in the cold war, including the Berlin wall crisis, the conflict was directly between the USSR and the USA.
The fact that the conflict was directly between the USSR and the USA was important and damaging because it meant that if one side backed down they couldn’t pretend it “didn’t matter because it was some foreign conflict that doesn’t really involve us” as it was between them and another country. Which ever side backed down would have to face its failure at face value, without softening the blown by blaming something else.
The fact that the U2 crisis happened before the summit conference was damaging because it meant that the great hope that the summit meeting of “The Big Four” would patch up the differences between the East and the West and begin a new period of friendly relationship was lost. This was important because it was one of the first opportunities to amend the poor relationship between Russia and America; however the U2 incident completely ruined any possibility of this happening because Khrushchev saw it as an act of aggression.
The fact that Khrushchev accused the USA of being “unable to call a halt to their war effort” was important because it was the end of the hope for peace as it showed that he still thought that the US wanted a conflict with Russia which was damaging because how could he trust America and patch up their relationships if they still wanted war, or thought that it was necessary to monitor Russia as if they were untrustworthy.
The fact that America refused to apologise and said that it was necessary to protect against Russian surprise attack was damaging because it showed that the Americans would never trust the Russians, as well as meaning that Khrushchev refused to...